“RUSH (a long way from H)” recalls the work of John Cage and various
Fluxus artists. So, to rephrase the question, is Bergvall’s an interesting rendi-
tion of a lonely, anxious, and hilarious conversation, presumably between
two women, in the neighborhood pub? A close look at the work’s linguistic
deformations and repetitions lays bare the complex layering that de¤nes
“this gigantic submarined trancehall” as it takes shape on the cyberpage. And
the next step, one we ¤nd taken in Kenneth Goldsmith’s Java Applet called
“Fidget,” is to have the words themselves put in motion, touch and inter-
sect with one another, and vary according to what time of day one accesses
the site.
How does such work relate to the original L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E mani-
festos? How is the “death of the author” playing itself out in such works as
“RUSH (a long way from H)” or “Fidget”? These are questions I try to answer
elsewhere, with respect to particular works.^33 But whatever the answer, there
is no doubt that the poetic action is already moving elsewhere and that we
will have to come to terms with a given work’s speci¤c materiality as well as
its difference. As Gertrude Stein put it so nicely in “An Acquaintance with
Description”:
What is the difference between three and two in furniture. Three is
the third of three and two is the second of two. This makes it as true
as a description. And not satis¤ed. And what is the difference between
being on the road and waiting very likely being very likely waiting, a
road is connecting and as it is connecting it is intended to be keeping
going and waiting everybody can understand puzzling.^34174 Chapter 8